Three Rules
by Magic Sparx
Summary: Lily Evans enjoys order. She has Three Rules that remind her why she does not like James Potter and never will. They are simple and indestructable, in her mind, but can they stand the test of time? COMPLETE


Title: Three Rules

Pairing: James/Lily, one-shot

* * *

Lily Evans loved order. She hated disorganization and chaos. Lily Evans' entire existence was held together by three fundamental rules. They went as follows:

_James Potter is rather unattractive._

_James Potter is a rather unattractive git._

_James Potter is a rather unattractive git whom I could never, ever, not in a billion years, or under any circumstances whatsoever, like or, God help me, love._

Yes, it may seem strange, but these rules were finite and very useful. Anytime her life felt like it was in shambles she looked back upon these rules and took comfort. Some things changed, but these rules were permanent – enduring unto the ending of the earth.

Or so she thought.

It was on a hot summer's day in June of her sixth year that the first rule came under fire. Classes were out for the weekend and the students could be found all around the school grounds doing their favorite activity: nothing. Lily decided to venture outside (despite the heat) and rest under her favorite oak tree by the lake. When she arrived, she sat with her back against the trunk of the tree and prepared to drift off into an easy sleep. Much to her disturbance there were a handful of rowdy students swimming in the lake. She inclined her head slightly forward to catch a glimpse of the students. Within a minute Lily recognized every last one of them – it was the Marauders, as they lovingly called themselves. James, of course, being a Marauder, was with them.

She noticed, with an attempted nonchalance, that James was swimming without a shirt. It was no big deal, really. The four boys swam to the nearest shore until the water was shallow enough to walk out of the lake. James bent over, shaking his dark hair madly as if he were a dog, spraying water all over Sirius in the process. When he stood up his hair was a disaster, managing to go in all directions at once. But Lily couldn't help but admit that the look suited him, in an unattractive way of course. The first rule must stand. The water beaded off James' back in the strong sunlight; his skin was slightly tanned and freckled from the long afternoons spent outdoors. Lily noticed that, for any boy in general, James had the ideal build. He was tall, but not monstrously so. He was not muscular by any stretch of the imagination, but the muscles he did have were long and slender. His shoulders were broad, but not too broad. He wasn't really gawky or lanky like he had once been. Still on the skinny side, mind you, but he had grown into his body.

At that moment James turned around. Lily knew he would never see her at such an angle, but she still moved back involuntarily. His front side was just as wet as the back. Lily found herself examining his chest, the way it was nicely defined in an athletic sort of way, but not as disgustingly so (in her opinion) as that of some kind of body builder. It was then that it hit her. She was sitting there, out in the open, examining the chest of James Potter. Her mouth went slightly dry and she felt her cheeks burning, even though there was no one nearby to see. She stood up, nearly in a fluster, and ran toward the school. Lily did so as calmly and orderly as possible. As she dashed through the front doors, not stopping to catch her breath, she knew that perhaps rule number one could be quietly removed and the two remaining rules slightly modified. It was no big deal, really.

_James Potter is a git._

_James Potter is a rather unattractive git whom I could never, ever, not in a billion years, or under any circumstances whatsoever, like or, God help me, love._

The rules, in their slightly modified manners, held strong and true throughout the summer as Lily did not even have to see or think about James Potter. Well, the seeing part was true enough. It was when she headed back to school in September that rule number two came into question. She had boarded the Hogwarts Express on the first of the month and was now sitting in a compartment with a few other school friends. She heard a loud conversation going on in the corridor of the train, so she leaned slightly toward the door, pretending to still be listening to the chat her friends were having about some boy in seventh year. She recognized the voices and matched them accordingly to three people: Severus Snape, Sirius Black, and James Potter. 'What's the matter Snivellus? Afraid to stand up for yourself, eh?' she heard Black say. It was followed by a rumble of feet.

'Come off it, Sirius,' she heard another voice add. It was James – she recognized the tone of his slightly deep and somewhat gentle voice. 'It's not worth it.' There was another set of scuffling sounds.

'Like I need you defend me, Potter,' she heard Snape hiss. There was a sound of an incantation, some yelling, and more scuffling. Then there was a loud thump. Completely forgetting her friends, she quickly opened the compartment door and headed into the corridor. Before her eyes was a frantic scene – Sirius had Severus pinned against a wall and was severely beating him. And there lay James, on the floor, clutching his face in what seemed to be genuine agony. Without thinking, Lily ran toward him and knelt beside him on the floor.

'Potter,' she said, almost at a whisper. 'James,' she added, grabbing his arm, 'Are you okay?' He removed his hand from his face, revealing a blackening eye and a bloody nose and lip. He looked rather rugged.

'Evans?' He eyed her as if she were someone as unexpected as the Queen of England. 'What…What are you…Are you looking for someone or something?' He looked positively perplexed and was now eyeing her hand which was gripping his left arm tightly. She followed his gaze, her stomach did a flip, and she quickly let go.

'I…I just heard you three fighting and then I heard someone fall. I just thought maybe someone was seriously hurt. Well, I guess you're not dead or anything, then,' she said, faltering for words. She stood up rather abruptly, turned around, and hastened to her open compartment door. Before she reached it, Lily heard James call her name. Lily turned around and saw James was still on the ground, except he had propped himself up on his elbows.

'Uh, thanks… Thanks, Evans,' he managed to say. His hazel eyes surveyed her as if his life depended on her response. She swallowed hard and with much difficulty.

'Don't mention it,' she said at a whisper, trying to smile in a friendly but non-suggestive manner. She hoped it did not end up looking like some kind of pained grimace. And with that she stepped back into her compartment and slid the door shut. Her friends were still deep in conversation about God-knew-what and they had not even noticed Lily's strange disappearance, thankfully. Lily sat down, crossed her left leg over the right, and quietly thought to herself that perhaps (and it caused her much pain to even think it) that James Potter was not entirely a git. She adjusted the rules accordingly in her mind.

_James Potter is a __person whom I could never, ever, not in a billion years, or under any circumstances whatsoever, like or, God help me, love._

She knew that the three rules were slowly, if not certainly, self-destructing. But she clung, with almost desperation, to the third and final rule. It did not matter if she thought James Potter was good looking. It did not matter if he was not a completely horrible person. Anyone could think that. Girls talked about how attractive or charming boys were all the time – it did not mean they were going to marry them.

Or so she thought.

It was during the Christmas holidays that she began to actually mull over why she had created these three rules to begin with. It was because, ever since the fourth grade, James Potter had been trying to get her to go out with him. She didn't know why, and it really bothered her. Why on earth would any boy want to go out with her? She didn't think she was particularly pretty or smart or funny. She had always assumed that James, being the prankster and immature git he was, had to have some kind of ulterior motive. Even when, after two years, it looked like his motives were sincere, she still never felt right about it. She had spent too long fighting with him and too many hours calling him a variety of names that she would never be able to accept him without feeling like she had lost a war. Then, almost suddenly, at the beginning of sixth year, James had stopped asking her out. Needless to say she was both relieved and bothered at the same time. Lily began to feel and think things that were just not acceptable, hence the rules. She needed those rules to keep herself in check. Without them, she was weak and susceptible.

It was on Christmas Day of her final year at Hogwarts that her life would be changed unequivocally and forever. Lily was spending her holidays at school due to the fact that her parents were visiting a sick aunt in London. All her friends had gone home and she felt tremendously forlorn. When she headed down to the Great Hall that morning she found there was a lone table, set for the ten or eleven people who were at school for the holidays. The table however, was not empty. James Potter sat at the end of the table, attempting the spear some eggs on the tines of his silver fork. Lily had forgotten that he always stayed at school for Christmas so Sirius would not feel lonely. She headed to the table, willing her body to become invisible or for him to become deaf. Alas, neither was true, and James almost immediately turned around. His face lit up slightly, causing her heart to drop into her stomach. 'I didn't know you were still at school, Evans,' James said casually. She winced slightly. She would rather die then admit it, but she half-wished he would call her Lily for once.

'Yes, I'm still here,' she said. Lily saw no need to explain why that was. James merely raised his eyebrows slightly and nodded a bit. She expected him to go back to his breakfast but instead he stood up. She stepped back in response. 'Please, uh, don't leave on my account,' she said uncertainly. 'I was going to leave anyway.'

James mouth curled into a half-smile. 'It's alright. I was done. I'll leave with you,' he said. She instantly regretted her words, but she knew there was no choice but to walk with him. Lily led the way, staying a step ahead and refusing to look back at James. About half way down the main hallway she felt his hand grab the arm of her sweater. She turned around quickly, praying silently that he had merely noticed a shoelace was undone or something to that effect. Instead, he had a rather dangerously meaningful look in his warm eyes. 'Er…' he began, looking up, still holding her sweater.

She followed his gaze and felt heart pounding madly like a drum. There, hanging above them, was mistletoe. She stared at it, not daring to look at him. 'Uh, Evans?' she heard him say distantly. Lily slowly turned her gaze back to him. She could still feel his hand on her arm. He was leaning toward her, his intentions unclear. She faltered, but his hand held steady. She swallowed. 'It's tradition, right?' he said, clearly asking permission to do something she'd only dreamt about. Lily found her voice had abandoned her. She couldn't say anything. She couldn't nod. She was like a deer in the headlights.

The next thirty second seemed to tick by as slowly as if each moment lasted a lifetime. James leant in farther, his lips only a few inches above her. She looked up and their eyes met. She felt his other hand fall behind her neck as he drew even nearer. His lips were at hers and she closed her eyes, praying she did not faint – praying she didn't throw up right in front of him. His lips were warm and gentle as he kissed her. She could feel his heart close to her own. She leant into him, reaching up and placing both her hand behind his head. She couldn't think of anything but James Potter. She couldn't see anything but James Potter. She breathed him in and as she exhaled, he pulled away slowly.

Slow-motion became reality and she was soon painfully and awkwardly aware of what had just happened. Lily released her grip on his soft hair and diverted her eyes to anywhere but his. Unexpectedly he reached out a hand to her cheek, turning her back to him. Then he looked into her eyes. She couldn't remember ever being looked at like that before. 'Lily,' he said, his voice brimming with a strange new emotion. 'Lily, will you go out with me?' he asked, breathing heavily and maintaining contact with her eyes.

This time she didn't even have to contemplate the rules for a moment. There was no need to modify or remove any of them. She took an imaginary quill, and in her mind she did what her heart had always willed her to do. She took the quill and struck out the remaining rule.

'Yes,' she said, brimming with feeling from head to toe. Rules were made to be broken.


End file.
